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This Day in History

Under a proposed amendment to the Population Registration Act South Africans across race spectrum would have their fingerprints taken and recorded on a central fingerprint register. A uniform identity document was to be issued to all races. This Act was first passed in 1950. It defined racial groups relatively loosely. The Population Registration Act determined people’s race classification, which in turn determined the implementation of many other racially based laws.

This article was produced for South African History Online on 20-Dec-2012